There is such a bird that was first discovered and recorded in 1861 and officially named two years later.
In the nearly 140 years since, only 6 times have been accurately observed. Because it is so unpredictable and so rare that it seems to exist only in myths and legends, it is also called "the bird of mythology".
It is the Chinese crested tern, the rarest bird in China, listed as a critically endangered species on the Red List of Birds in the World, and the most serious level of extreme danger to extinction.
The first chinese crested tern was found in Fujian. In 2004, the bird was first spotted in Zhejiang. The reporter learned from the "Communiqué on the State of Ecology and Environment in Zhejiang Province" and the press conference on biodiversity conservation held yesterday afternoon that since 2013, Zhejiang has achieved successful breeding of terns in the Xiangshan Lishan Archipelago and the Dinghai Wuzhishan Archipelago for many consecutive years.
By 2020, the highest number of Chinese crested terns along the coast of Zhejiang will reach 94, accounting for 2/3 of the world (less than 150 worldwide).
Not only the Chinese crested tern, but also more and more newly discovered species in Zhejiang in recent years. In 2019, the background survey of biodiversity in key areas began in Zhejiang, and two new species were found, one is the Baishan ancestral horned toad, and the other is the Taishun flat wax cicada.
Baishan ancestral horned toad and Tai shun flat wax cicada
In June last year, when the investigation team conducted an amphibian survey in Lishui Baishanzu National Park, it found a strangely called horned toad in a stream ditch, which was identified as a new species by morphological comparison and molecular biology identification.
On January 19 this year, Lishui City officially announced that it had discovered a new species of amphibians from all over the world and named it "Baishan Ancestral Horned Toad".
The Baishan Zu Horned Toad looks similar to that of a frog, but its body color is mainly tan with black color, and it lives in a narrow range of 1400 meters to 1600 meters in Baishanzu National Park.
There are also amphibians such as pale-shouldered horned toads, spiny-breasted frogs, Wuyi turbulence frogs, and Bingzhi fat salamanders living in this area, all of which are harsh on water quality and surrounding vegetation.
Taishun flat wax cicada, first discovered in Wenzhou Taishun last year, so it was named "Taishun flat wax cicada".
In May last year, dr. Song Zhishun's team from the Institute of Insect Resources and Diversity of Jiangsu Second Normal University discovered this wax cicada during an insect resource survey in Taishun County, with an orange and silver-white head and black wings, like a "fighter" wearing a black cape.
The number of newly recorded species in Zhejiang reached 263
Since 2019, Zhejiang has also found 65 new species recorded in China, including 64 species of macromycetes and 1 species of sedge family. For example, the Eurasian otter (tǎ), the honeysuckle, the Chinese partridge (zhè gū), the great eagle (kuáng), the white-crowned tern, etc., are all species that have disappeared in Zhejiang Province for decades, and this time they have been rediscovered.
There is also the national second-level protected insect Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle, which was declared extinct in 1982 and rediscovered in Baishanzu National Park in this survey.
In May 2020, dr. Song Zhishun's team also discovered for the first time the world's smallest dragonfly to date: the pygmy red dragonfly, when conducting an insect resource survey in Taishun.
In 2021, the survey in Cixi City, Ningbo Province, found that the national second-level key protected wild plant, the scale hammer tree, belongs to the new record of Zhejiang Province.
In addition, the small civet cat that has disappeared in Zhejiang for more than 30 years has been rediscovered in Taishun County; the rare large ungulates in East China, such as the Chinese impala and the hairy-crowned deer, have been captured by infrared cameras in Xianju County.
As of now, zhejiang has recorded 263 new species. Zhejiang's forests and wetlands have become a paradise for wild animals, showing a beautiful scene of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
Why does Zhejiang have such a diversity of organisms?
The forest area of Zhejiang Province is 6,078,800 hectares, with a forest coverage rate of 61.15%, ranking the forefront of the country; the number of islands ranks first in the country, and the offshore and coastal wetlands are important habitats and transit stations for bird migration.
At present, there are 790 species of terrestrial wild vertebrates in the province, accounting for about 30% of the national total. Among them, there are more than 20 kinds of pangolins and Chinese crested terns that belong to the national first-class, and 106 species of macaques and other macaques belong to the national second-class.
Zhejiang is also known as the "Southeast Plant Treasury", which is one of the provinces with rich plant species diversity in China, with about 5500 species of higher plants.
Such a rich and colorful biodiversity benefits from Zhejiang's good ecological environment. Taking the past 2020 as an example, in terms of water environment, the proportion of surface water control sections reaching or better than Class III water quality is 94.6%, an increase of 3.2 percentage points over the previous year, and there is no inferior class V water section in the province.
In terms of air quality, the ambient air quality of 11 districted cities in the province has reached the national secondary standard; the ratio of excellent ambient air quality (AQI) days is 93.3%.
In addition, there are 56 counties (cities, districts) with excellent ecological and environmental status in Zhejiang, accounting for 81.4% of the total area of the province, and public satisfaction with the ecological environment has also increased for 9 consecutive years.